Schulich School of Engineering
Fully Turbulent Wakes at Low Reynolds Numbers: the Case of the Thin Flat Plate
Abstract
dc:description.abstractThe wake of a thin flat plate normal to uniform flow exhibits unique behaviour, with much research suggesting it undergoes a fundamentally different Reynolds number-dependent tran-sition process to turbulence than wakes behind canonical geometries. Moreover, there is vast disagreement over the behaviour of the wake among numerical simulations below Reynolds number 1000. This thesis provides evidence that the wake is fully turbulent at Reynolds number 400. We develop a direct numerical simulation at this Reynolds number, compare it with exper-imental cases at Reynolds numbers 12500 and 19700 and contrast with another simulation at 150 to show the differences from laminar wakes. We find strong agreement between the Reynolds number 400 wake and wakes at much higher Reynolds numbers for all statistical quantities examined. We also show the far wake evolution, energy spectra, and stochastic behaviour of gradient quantities in the Reynolds number 400 wake are typical of turbulent wakes.
Degree
thesis:*- Name thesis:degree_name
- Master of Science (MSc)
- Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
- Engineering – Mechanical & Manufacturing
- Grantor
- Schulich School of Engineering
- Year dc:date.issued
- 2025
Author and committee
dc:creator, dc:contributor.*- Author dc:creator
-
- Rosin, Isaac Theo
- Advisors dc:contributor.advisor
-
- Martinuzzi, Robert
- Protas, Bartosz
- Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember
-
- Martinuzzi, Robert
- Stil, Jeroen
- Epstein, Marcelo
- Protas, Bartosz
Subjects
dc:subject × 4Rights
dc:rights- Statement dc:rights
-
- Unless otherwise indicated, this material is protected by copyright and has been made available with authorization from the copyright owner. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.
- Language dc:language.iso
- en
Identifiers
dc:identifier.*- OAI identifier oai:identifier
- oai:ucalgary.scholaris.ca:1880/122717